Forget Chelsea, Villa Will Mount Top 4 Challenge

JBerlin who was at the Chelsea game says forget it, Villa can mount a serious bid for a top four place.

I went to the game today to see improving villa, who are going to challenge arsenal to 4th place, the other 3 clubs will be 1 2 3.

I saw us play the European champions league and premier league runners up. Chelsea were class, Alan Hanson says the best performance he has seen from them in 5 years and we only lost due to sloppy uncharacteristic errors.

During the game I couldn't believe some of the fans getting on the backs of some players, yes I got frustrated with Gabbys work rate and play today, but these guys can have a bad day once in a while, and frankly if they have it away to Chelsea I'm not too bothered.

People over reacting after the game saying it just shows the gulf in class from the top 4 to the rest are talking rubbish. It shows the gap between the top 2 and the rest. Who forgot we drew to joint top Liverpool? Who forgot Arsenal's last two results? That surely shows they are way short of the top 4 doesn't it? No, just like today only proves Chelsea at their best are a much better team than us.

With a new striker for competition, and one other plus Bouma back we will mount a bid for 4th place. The game v Chelsea was just a bad day and we have two weeks now to put it right.

absolutely agree. hansen went a bit over the top. what if we played our best game in 5 years and it was chelsea who had an off day? these things happen and i for one still think we have a great chance of cracking the top 4. hansen even said liverpool are in with a shot of the title - well then whats the gulf between villa and liverpool if we drew 0 - 0 and should have won?

As a Chelsea fan I was surprised that you guys didn't push us all the way. I love your style of play, your players and your players enthusiasm. I hope you guys break into the top 4 because you certainly have the class to. You can have an off day. It's a minor set back, but you'll bounce back.

totally agree with JBerlin. we are still improving, alot of these players are young men with a few exceptions and that game will be great to take away and learn from if we want to play at that level. CL and premierleague runners up and i thought they were outstanding at times. but, why cant lampard play like that for england?

Were Chelsea that good though, or were we simply way off of our best? We didn't turn up, never got into the game, mainly of course because we weren't allowed to. We were definitely outplayed and outclassed on the day though, by an exceptional Chelsea team, a team still missing key players. We have a lot of work, and catching up, to do.